Good news, everyone: Samsung may already be testing the latest version of Android on the Galaxy S7.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 has passed through the Geekbench 3 benchmark test, which isn’t that exciting. But it’s listed as running on Android 7.0, which is very exciting. That means there’s a Galaxy S7 being powered by Google’s new Nougat software out in the wild
Google announced Nougat at the beginning of the year, but it’s yet to arrive on third-party handsets. New features include split-screen support and the Vulkan graphics API – both of which were already featured on the Galaxy S7. But there are also improvements to the ‘Doze’ battery saving feature, improved notification handling, and (eventually) support for Google’s Daydream VR platform.
According to the benchmark readout, there also appears to be a noticeable boost to performance. As PhoneArena points out, the Galaxy S7 tends to score in the range of 1,000 and 1,900 on Geekbench’s single-core test, and 4,200 to 5,300 on the multi-core test. But the Nougat-powered Galaxy S7 has managed 2,016 and 5,587 on the single-core and multi-core tests respectively.
Samsung’s Galaxy S7 was released on March 11, 2016
Anything else worth noting? Well, the handset that was benchmarked was definitely not a US or Chinese model, as they both run on Qualcomm’s quad-core Snapdragon 820 chip. This particular Galaxy S7 is listed as having an octa-core chip, which means it’s running the Samsung-built Exynos 8890, which is the general release processor for the rest of the Galaxy S7-owning community. Hey, maybe it’s even a UK version.
Unfortunately, despite these early tests, there’s no guarantee that the end consumer will see Nougat on their Galaxy S7 any time soon. Samsung’s Android updates are notoriously lethargic, and most speculation puts the eventual release at around February or March time. After all, Samsung has to tweak the Android software to its own standards, and then get approval from local carriers too. Nevertheless, we’re still hoping for a pre-2017 rollout, so keep those fingers crossed.
Related: Samsung Galaxy S8
Watch The Refresh: The best tech gossip and reviews every week
What do you think of Android 7.0 Nougat? Let us know in the comments.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
